Number of dollar millionaires in Kenya set to grow

Nairobi skyline: Wealth report says Kenya is one of the top performing countries in Africa. PHOTO | FILE

Kenya will have more than 15,000 people with more than $1 million (Sh101 million) to invest by the year 2025 according to a newly released wealth report.

New World Wealth, a consultancy firm based in the UK and South Africa, says Kenya is now among the top five African countries for what it terms HNWI’s (Higher Net Worth Individuals) after South Africa, Egypt and Nigeria, which has just been named as the most unequal place on the continent, in terms of wealth.

It also says that “Kenya is the top performing major African market for HNWIs,” in terms of the growth of its number of millionaires.

A Higher Net Worth Individual is defined by Wikipedia as a person with investible assets, in terms of stocks and bonds of more than $1 million.

According to its report, HNWI volumes in Kenya increased by 60 per cent from approximately 5,300 HNWIs in 2007 to 8,500 HNWIs last year.

“This made Kenya one of the top performing countries in Africa during this period (in terms of the number of rich individuals),” the report said.

“Residential property constitutes around 35 per cent of the net assets of an average Kenyan HNWI. This is a relativity high percentage when compared to other African countries. Popular properties for Kenyan HNWIs include beach front villas and homes in residential estates. Many wealthy Kenyans are also large landowners.

“We expect the number of Kenyan HNWIs to grow by 80 per cent, to reach approximately 15,300 by 2025. This will make it one of the top 20 performing countries in the world over this period.”

The report says there are approximately 165,000 HNWIs living in Africa, with combined wealth holdings of $860 billion.